Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973.

• Author: Bailey, Charles W.

By Robert Dallek Oxford University Press, $35

Two scenes in the White House, 1968: An evening in April. Lyndon Johnson has invited Nelson Rockefeller and his wife to the executive mansion. Three weeks earlier, Johnson had announced he would not run for re-election. Now, over dinner in the family quarters, the president -- dissatisfied with all the Democratic candidates hoping to succeed him -- urges Rockefeller to go after the Republican nomination. Johnson tells the New York governor that he would never campaign against him because "you've been a longtime friend."

Fast-forward to Sept. 15 of the same year. The white House visitor now is evangelist Billy Graham, bearing a gift in the form of a memorandum from Richard Nixon. Nixon, having easily crushed Rockefeller's late-blooming candidacy, wants to further chill Johnson's already lukewarm support for Hubert Humphrey. The memo, hand-written by Graham from Nixon's dictation, oozes flattery:

"1) ... [I] would never embarrass him after the election. I respect him as a man and as the president. He is the hardest working and most dedicated president in 140 years.

"2) I want a working relationship with him ... and will seek his advice continually.

"3) Want you [President Johnson] to go on special assignments after the election, perhaps to foreign countries.

"4) I must point out some of the weaknesses and failures of the administration. But will never reflect on Mr. Johnson personally.

"5) When Vietnam is settled he [Nixon] will give you [President Johnson] a major share of credit -- because you ... deserve it.

"6) Will do everything to make you ... a place in history because you deserve it."

Graham goes over the Nixon memo with Johnson. He later recalls that "the president asked me to read these points twice. Then he took the paper from my hand and studied it for a moment but I could see he was having difficulty reading my writing. He then said, `Let me give you answers point by point.' The substance of his answers were warm appreciation. He said, `I intend to loyally support Mr. Humphrey, but if Mr. Nixon becomes president-elect, I will do all in my power to cooperate with him.'"

Robert Dallek's Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973 provides much fascinating detail -- including an assertion by some Humphrey aides that Johnson had Humphrey's telephones tapped during the 1968 campaign. But though the book is rich in anecdote, it is much more: It is in fact the best balanced and...